Tuesday, September 01, 2009

mmm...peachy

Well, I've realized that every time I turn on my oven in this apartment, the smoke detectors are going to go off. That doesn't inspire me much to cook or bake at home, but I like baking too much to let that keep me from making things, so I took the batteries out. :) Don't worry, I'll put them back in when the oven is off. Trust me, my dad was a fireman, so I wouldn't leave them out.

Since I'm all about making the pies, I thought I'd share my very simple peach pie recipe. Seriously, if you only knew how easy it was, you wouldn't be impressed. Maybe I should keep it a secret? Just kidding. I'll share.

First of all, the real treasure is this: my grandma Shirlye's pie crust recipe. If you want a good pie, you canNOT use store-bought pie crust. I tried to once, and I couldn't even stand to eat my own pie. I guess that's what I get for being lazy. Here's how you make Grandma's pie crust (makes 2 pie crusts--a top and bottom or two bottoms):1 3/4 c. flour1/4 t. salt3/4 c. to 1 c. shortening5 T. cold water

Blend the dry ingredients & shortening with a fork or pastry blender. Add the water and mix that in with the pastry blender or fork (or two forks). Chill for at least 30 minutes. (If you want, you can let it chill in the fridge for a day or two until you have time to make the pie. I do this sometimes!)

You can then use that crust for any kind of pie you want, but be sure that when you roll it out you dont use too much flour. It won't stick together well if you do. Also, a tip for putting the pie crust into the pie pan--fold the circle in half and then in half again, and put it in the pan and then unfold into place.

For my peach pie, I sort of combined whatever amount of peaches I had (maybe 2-3 cups, though most recipes say 5 c. of peaches are needed) with about 1 cup of cinnamon/sugar mixture (you can make it as cinnamon-y as you'd like), 1/4 t. nutmeg, a few shakes of salt (no more than 1/4 t. salt), and 1/2 c. flour. I mixed those together in a Ziploc bag and then stirred it in with the peaches.

A few tips: use a fork to poke a few holes in the bottom of the crust before you put any kind of filling in there. Then put the filling in, and cut up into small pieces about 2 T. butter and put that around the top of the filling. When you put the top crust on, fold the top of the crust under the bottom crust, and push it together with your thumb around the edges. Then poke holes in the top (in a fun design if you want!) with a fork, sprinkle water on top, and then sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on top.

Bake that at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. I found another recipe that says after 10 min. to turn it down to 350 and bake longer, so you can just eye it. If your crust gets too brown, use a pie crust shield on the edges to cover them before they burn, or you can just use foil around the edges.

Voila! That's all! I use this crust recipe and basically the same inside for apple pie as well. Enjoy!